A FORMER University of East Anglia (UEA) law lecturer who fled Britain for Ireland has been sentenced in his absence for possessing indecent images of children.
Julian Myerscough, 55, absconded from Ipswich Crown Court in September 2015 and travelled to Ireland after fleeing the court.
He had last been seen boarding a ferry to Dublin from Wales.
The Crown Court issued a European Arrest Warrant for his arrest at the time and Suffolk Police officers immediately began enquiries to locate him.
Myerscough was detained by Gardaí at a Dublin hotel just hours before he was due to fly to Budapest, Hungary.
While in custody in Dublin, Myerscough appealed against his planned extradition back to Britain.
Last month, the High Court in Dublin ordered that he be released as two years had passed and he was now being unlawfully detained.
His current whereabouts are unknown.
The retired lecturer has now been sentenced in his absence at Chelmsford Crown Court to three and a half years in prison.
He was found guilty of 13 counts of possession of indecent images of a child and three counts of breaching a Sexual Offences Prevention Order.
Judge Emma Peters — who presided over Myerscough’s original trial in 2015 — stressed that just because he had been in custody in Ireland for two years, it did not necessarily mean this time would be taken off his sentence.
Speaking after the hearing, detective sergeant of Suffolk Police, Simon Fitch, said: "Julian Myerscough is a convicted sexual offender and I am pleased that he has finally been sentenced.
“However, he appears to be unable to accept responsibility for his own actions and seems determined to avoid facing his punishment.
"We immediately began attempts to extradite him back to the United Kingdom, but he has done everything possible to challenge, frustrate and delay these efforts, culminating in the High Court in Dublin ruling he should be freed from custody in Ireland.
"He may currently be living as a free man, but I am confident justice will catch-up with him eventually and will we continue our efforts to return him to the United Kingdom so that he can serve the sentence handed down to him yesterday.”
